This invention relates to a final closing device for a closure member on a vehicle body and, more particularly, to a device for moving a vehicle-mounted closure member (e.g., a sliding door, a hinged door, a trunk lid, or the like) from a nearly closed position, at which a latch bolt engages a striker, to a fully closed position, at which the closure member is sealingly engaged with the vehicle body.
Vehicle closure members, whether hingedly connected to the vehicle body or slidingly mounted thereon, typically require only small forces to move them through the major extent of their opening and closing movement relative to the vehicle body. It is generally only during the final closing movement of the closure member, at which time the closure member must compress a weather seal strip carried by the vehicle body, that a large application of force must be applied to the closure member. However, in order to overcome the large resistance encountered in the final closing movement, vehicle closure members which are manually closed are typically moved with great momentum through their closing movement in order to insure that they will fully compress the weather seal strip at the end of such movement. Such high momentum movement of the closure members presents a significant safety problem with respect to vehicle occupants, who may inadvertently have failed to remove portions of their body from the path of movement of the closure member.
Various attempts have been made to mechanize the final closing movement of closure members. Such attempts have been made with respect to closure members that are manually moved through their initial, major range of movement (to the start of their final closing movement) and with respect to closure members which are automatically moved by powered devices through their initial major range of movement to that starting point. Examples of the former (manual preliminary movement) may be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,833,536, to Joachim et al and 2,896,990 to Garvey et al. Examples of the latter (powered preliminary movement) may be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,081,078 to Lohr, 4,333,269 to Bascou, and 4,530,185 to Moriya et al.
The final closing systems employed in the foregoing examples are generally costly, complicated mechanisms which are difficult to install and are subject to frequent breakdowns with attendant costly repairs. Moreover, it would be difficult, at best, to retrofit such mechanisms to vehicles not originally designed to receive them.
It is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved final closing device for closure members of vehicles.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved final closing device for closure members which is generally inexpensive, long lasting and capable of being retrofitted onto vehicles not originally designed to receive them.
A further object of the invention is to provide an improved final closing device for closure members on vehicles in which an eccentrically mounted, motor driven striker, carried on a vehicle body member, is employed to finally close the closure member with high force against the resistance of a weather seal strip carried by the vehicle body.
Additional objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds.